


Parallel Lines

by steve_rogers



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-02
Updated: 2013-08-02
Packaged: 2017-12-22 05:43:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/909594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/steve_rogers/pseuds/steve_rogers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They went from hatred to friction to neutrality to friendship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Parallel Lines

“That… went well.”

Steve laughed and stared at the large buildings of Manhattan, and then dropped his gaze down to the darkness of the East River. The lights from the Brooklyn Bridge hit the water and reflected off the small waves in short, smooth strokes, like a paintbrush. This city never ceased to dazzle him, even if he was forced to shift northwest of Brooklyn, a place he felt comfortable in. The magnificence of Manhattan more than made up for the loss. New York City had aged admirably.

He leaned against the cold railing of the Fulton Ferry landing. This place was always busy with tourists – the view was spectacular at night. Not this evening, though. The twilight hours gave way to dusk as they were fighting, the indomitable Avengers. None of them had noticed. Now, when the last bits of daylight were completely gone, nightfall came, the indistinguishable stars shone, and they were at peace.

Not Tony Stark. Tony Stark was hardly ever at peace. There was press to handle, cleanup, damage control. Pepper took care of a lot of those things, but it was never enough. Miraculously, no one had followed them here, him and Steve. After the battle they needed to get away from the streets of Manhattan, both figuring that the Brooklyn Bridge was an easy enough escape. They crossed it side by side and ended up at the ferry landing, not once speaking. Tony did not fly. He had placed his helmet in Hulk’s hand and winked. Steve had left his shield in the care of Agent Romanoff, whom he knew would be nice enough to bring it back to Headquarters, or Stark Tower, or wherever they would be told to go next.

Steve took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of the water, and listened to the waves crashing with the land. It was windy here, but that was all right. He wondered why he hasn’t been here on other occasions and why he was now, when Tony was here. It was getting late, and the rest of them might be worried. Honestly, though, he just needed some time away from the debris.

Tony watched him for around five seconds, deciding that he probably was not going to get an answer besides the small chuckle he received from the stoic soldier. He walked over to the edge of the wooden platform and leaned alongside the fence the way Steve did, and watched the buildings. His own tower was too far north, so he settled on the newly completed Freedom Tower at the World Trade Center, the tallest building in the country. He felt empty staring at it, so he let his eyes wander to the man beside him.

“That doesn’t look too good,” he commented, nodding to the bloody cut on Steve’s shoulder, the short, torn piece of blue fabric dangling by its side. “You might want to get it checked.”

Steve followed his gaze and frowned at the unattractive sight. The truth was that it was worse than it looked, but he was not going to give in so quickly. “I’ll be okay,” he said quietly. “Good to know that you care.”

“Anything for you, Rogers,” Tony mumbled, staring at the water.

Steve laughed again, examining their partnership briefly in his head. It’s been about a year since the first attack on New York, and it took at least three weeks afterwards for him to begin to warm up to Tony. He turned out to not be as bad as Steve had initially thought, and he did save all of their lives. They went from hatred to friction to neutrality to friendship. In the next few months they were still parallel lines that did not meet, but they were able to go from saying horrible things to each other one day to laughing about it over a beer the next. No apologies, no lingering tension. Now things were looking up for them both; they took bullets for each other, they cared, they laughed at the other’s jokes. The fondness was there, undeniably.

“You were great back there,” he told him with honesty. “That trick with the flares…”

“Yeah,” Tony said coolly. “So were you.”

Steve frowned at the river, his hands tightening on the cold metal railing. “Me?”

“Why’s that so hard for you to believe? You always do great, Cap. Do you really think Fury would keep you around if you didn’t?”

“Fury only listens to you, you know.”

Tony smiled. “That’s not true. _I’d_ keep you around regardless. But I’m not Fury.”

Steve shook his head comically and looked away, adding nothing on the matter. “Your suit’s pretty banged up.”

Tony looked down at the chipping paint and broken metal. All the damage was from today. “Uh, yeah, it is. Don’t worry about it, I’ll fix it,” he replied. Mockingly, he added, “ _Good to know that you care._ ”

“ _Anything for you, Stark,_ ” Steve tossed back with a smile, eyes meeting Tony’s.

Tony didn’t smile back. Instead he just stared at Steve curiously and tried to read his expression. Steve looked back at him.

For the first time in his life, Tony tried to put himself in the shoes of the soldier. He had no idea what he was doing. How do you get pulled away from everything you love and manage to keep yourself together? How do you fight in a real war and, seventy years later, come back and do it again? How do you go from combat with real people to battles with gods, assassins, and monsters? And why, why would you protect their lives, these creatures you hardly know?

Tony felt something that he never imagined himself feeling. It wasn’t a proud, _thank-you-for-your-service-oh-good-soldier_ feeling. It certainly wasn’t envy. It was more along the lines of amazement.

“Is everything okay?” Steve asked tenderly.

And then he realized it wasn’t just amazement. It was admiration; true, genuine emotion. He watched the city lights bouncing off Steve’s hair as he stepped closer to him, analyzing him carefully. Steve furrowed his eyebrows and opened his mouth to say something, and that was when Tony reached up and impulsively pressed a kiss to his lips.

All right, maybe it wasn’t so impulsive. It began to dawn on him that perhaps he’d been feeling like this for a long time and just ignored it, pushing the thought aside, locking it away. But there he was at the edge of Brooklyn, kissing him. Parallel lines crossing.

Steve stumbled back for a moment but then planted his feet and remained unmoving. His eyes were wide open until he closed them slowly. It was soft, sweet, and oddly unreal. Tony pulled away after a few seconds and kept his eyes on him.

Steve’s heart was racing. He tried to catch his breath for a moment, but then discovered that he was too astonished to even breathe. He wanted to look away, think it through, but Tony’s gaze was holding his.

“I think I like you,” Tony told him, being entirely upfront. It didn’t really matter how he phrased it after what he’d just done. There was no going back after this. Oh well. He was never one to hold back, anyway. “Is that weird?”

“No,” Steve answered slowly.

Tony searched for a sign of sarcasm on his face. He didn’t find anything even remotely close. “It’s not?” he asked skeptically.

“No,” Steve repeated. Then, with newfound certainty, he leaned down and kissed him.

 _That’s a nice turn of events_ , Tony thought, closing his eyes and kissing him back. Wow, this was bizarre. He actually felt good for a moment. It was quiet, apart from the sounds of the river and the city. The moment was right. Perhaps the feeling was mutual. Not that he ever expected it to be – but then again, he never expected any of this to happen. His arc reactor pressed against the star on Steve’s chest, and he placed his hand on his neck. He began to think that perhaps he was pushing it, but then Steve’s arms went around him. It didn’t matter that there were layers of armor in the way; the closeness was immeasurable.

Steve pulled away this time, but he looked at the ground, as did Tony. He remained silent, except from his heavy breathing.

“Well,” Tony whispered finally. “That went better than I was hoping.” _Not bad_ , he thought.

“Not bad,” Steve replied.

 _Stunning_. This was so much bigger than he thought. Full of awe, he threw his arms around Steve, who hugged him back, looking over his shoulder to the Bridge.

“Now what?” Steve asked quietly.

“I don’t know,” Tony said with a small laugh. That truly was a first. He always knew what to do. “Let’s go home.”

They broke the connection after a while and turned around to walk back across the bridge. If there wasn’t a vehicle waiting for them, it was a six-mile walk. Neither of them minded. They weren’t silent this time.


End file.
